In the electronics industry, electrical connectors are often mounted to printed circuit boards for electrical connection to circuit traces on the boards. Typically, the electrical connectors are positioned on the printed circuit boards by automated methods, and the electrical connections are wave soldered to the circuits on the boards. The connectors usually include some form of locking or retention feature to hold the connectors to the boards and, in the case of shielded connectors, the connectors include a commoning means coupled to ground traces on the board, often by insertion of at least one commoning element through a hole of the printed circuit board.
One type of electrical connector assembly of the character described above is known in the electrical connector assembly industry as a miniature or sub-miniature D connector. The connector includes a plug and a receptacle, each having an insulative housing containing a plurality of mating terminals or contacts. In order to shield against RF/EM interference, an exterior metal or conductive shell typically encloses each housing. The shielding shells are effectively grounded to the ground traces on the printed circuit board.
One of the main problems in utilizing such miniature connectors in conjunction with printed circuit boards is the cost of assembling the connectors themselves which is done prior to assembling the connectors to the printed circuit boards. Often, extraneous locking hardware, such as bolts, posts and rivets are used both to assemble the connectors and ready the connectors for interconnection to the boards. Although automated processes are being used to interconnect the connectors to the printed circuit boards, automated processes for assembling the connectors themselves have been difficult because of the nature of the miniature connector construction in combination with the extraneous hardware used in the connector assembly. Often, the connector components are assembled in directions on given axes, such as assembling the shielding shell to the housing in one direction on a given axis, and the extraneous hardware is assembled in different directions on other axes, requiring multiple tooling stages and/or different assembly stations in the assembly process.
This invention is directed to solving the above problems and providing a new and improved shielded electrical connector adapted for mounting on a printed circuit board, which substantially entirely eliminates extraneous assembly, locking, and mounting hardware required for connecting the connector shield to ground traces on a printed circuit board and which is readily adaptable for automated assembly processes.